


Oneiros

by Phiso



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Dream Sequence, Dreams, Gen, Songfic, regina spektor - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-09
Updated: 2015-11-09
Packaged: 2018-04-30 20:43:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5178929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phiso/pseuds/Phiso
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry is looking for answers in his dreams.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Oneiros

**Author's Note:**

  * For [oceanslaugh](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=oceanslaugh).



> Thanks to my prince for the beta! (LJ @carmentakoshi, AO3 @zealousprince)
> 
> Written for the Harry Potter Non-Canon Comment Ficathon in 2010 (http://anythingbutgrey.livejournal.com/774727.html), using oceanslaugh's prompt, "he stumbled into faith and thought, God this is all there is". Re-edited quickly in 2015.

 

 _he stumbled into faith and thought god, this is all there is_  
  
Harry was standing alone in the middle of an empty meadow and the enormous expanse that was the sky.

He could see everything and yet nothing; the horizon laid bare before him, flat and infinite. The sun was gone, hidden away behind clouds that closed over him like a blanket. He had come hoping, praying for the answer he had been searching for, but there was nothing here.

Why had he come?

I’m here, he said, but there was no answer. I’m here, he tried again, struck with the fear of forgetting, I’m sorry, but I’m alone, I - this is all there is.

I’m here.

 

_  
he took a step but then felt tired_

It was difficult to move here, so smothered was he by this lack of light, by his need for answers. He didn’t realize when he sat down, but he had and the grass was hard and brittle and sharp.

I’ll rest a little while, he thought, and maybe they’ll come.

He only closed his eyes for a second, but when he opened them again the meadow had already begun to melt away, the grass growing both up and down and becoming lamp posts and buildings and people.

Excuse me? He scrambled up, trying to catch someone’s attention, but no one paid him any mind. Hello?

Am I looking for you?

Step after step and shoulder after shoulder: nothing.

Why was he here?

And turning to a window beside him, he saw his reflection staring back at him, his father but not, a man much too haggard and worn to be what he remembered himself being.

 

 

 _the pictures in his mind arose and began to breathe and no one saw and no one heard_  
  
A blink, and he wasn’t alone; a redheaded woman stood beside him, her expression torn, and he turned, unsure of who she was and unsure of who he wanted her to be.

Wait, he tried to say, but she was gone, fading away into the crowds. Come back, no –

The longer he chased her, the darker it became, making it feel like every step drove the world further and further into the night. He tried to chase her, but he was lost; the people kept moving, oblivious to how the buildings became walls and the sidewalk became tiles and before he knew it the lampposts were rows upon rows of bright blue orbs, shining and glimmering with their potential.

Wait, please, come back, he called, but she was gone and he couldn’t catch his breath. Leaning over on his knees, his heart racing, he faced a man laying on his back, a man who was once great but was now decrepit, his face haunted and his skin pale.

He stared at this man, knowing that this man was important, that this man mattered, but he couldn’t remember why. And then he saw a flash of pain in the man’s eyes as a dog’s yelp escaped him, an invisible force pulling him away, and Harry knew. He jerked his head up to see an archway in the middle of an empty room, its stones large and heavy, with a veil drifting ominously between the shelves of spheres.

He reached down to grab the man, to keep him from slipping away, but he found himself instead before a young woman, her thick, wild curls spread around her like a halo as her eyes stared up at him, reflecting the light of the prophecies. She knew, she had to know where he had gone. This girl knew everything.

But she suddenly screamed and twisted, scaring him and causing him to step back in alarm. The room suddenly filled with a powerful surge of people, and before he could do a thing he was swept away, trying and failing to reach the girl he thought had all the answers.

Please, he cried, let me through, I need to her to answer me, I need to find him, but no one heard him and no one stopped.

 

 

_the most human color_

An elbow hit his temple and he winced in pain; and as soon as it passed, he was back in the meadow, alone beneath the thick quilt of impending storms.

Wait, he wanted to say. I thought I had found him, I thought I had found a way to find him. Where did he go?

And for a moment there was no answer and all was still, and he dipped his head in defeat.

Oh, come on.

A gentle hand beneath the chin, a kind tilt up.

You heard them, just behind the veil, didn’t you? In that room with the archway.

Blue eyes stared back at him, smiling and unperturbed and full of serenity. Behind her the archway loomed, a strange, bulky presence in such an empty meadow. But she said no more, and he listened, waiting for his answer.

Voices tugged at his heart, and his chest swelled with pain and hope and love as he realized he knew who they belonged to.

They were just lurking out of sight, the girl smiled, that’s all.

She knew, she knew the answers, and in knowing this, he could not tear his eyes away from her.

You heard them.

He nodded, and the girl’s eyes danced like her blonde hair in the breeze and her hands took his.

And as he scrambled up the grass around him was green, a bright green he recognized in the mirror and in his memories, and he looked up and saw the sky, a beautiful, wide, brilliant blue sky the color of her eyes. A soft shadow of the moon as white as her skin rose above their heads as his hands slipped around her waist and lifted her in a twirl, and for the first time in a long time he felt at peace.


End file.
